1-Solar Energy Two school students are arguing: one says that you heat water from the sun’s rays...

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Electrical Engineering

1-Solar Energy

Two school students are arguing: one says that you heat waterfrom the sun’s rays to create energy, the other says that youcreate energy from electronics that the sun’s rays react with. Youare asked to provide no more than 500 words (plus additionaldiagrams) to explain to the school pupils what is the correctanswer to their argument.

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Both photovoltaic and solar thermal are the two establishedsolar power technologies Photovoltaics use semiconductortechnology to directly convert sunlight into electricityPhotovoltaics therefore only operate when the sun is shining andmust be coupled either with other power generation mechanisms toensure a constant supply of electricitySolar thermal works by using mirrors to concentrate sunlightThe concentrated sunlight is then used either directly as a sourceof heat as in solar water heating or to drive a heat cycle suchas a sterling engine Additionally since solar thermal onlydirectly produces heat it can store thermal energy variousmediums Some plants in fact can store enough energy for 75hours of generation in lieu of sunlight 3 Therefore solarthermal can potentially generate power 24 hours a    See Answer
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